Estimated numbers of one-parent families and their prevalence in Great Britain in 1991

Abstract

This article gives the final estimate of the number of one-parent families in Great Britain in 1991--1.3 million--and a provisional estimate--of 1.4 million--for 1992. It also estimates that there were 2.2 million dependent children living in one-parent families in 1991, and provides a provisional estimate for 1992 of 2.3 million. Overall, in 1992, about one in five families with dependent children was a one-parent family and about one in five of all dependent children lived in a one-parent family. The article also examines the family sizes of one-parent families; the profiles by marital status of both lone mothers and lone fathers; the ages of lone parents and of their dependent children, and the geographical variation in the prevalence of lone parenthood within Great Britain in 1991. Finally, census data on the family composition of households are examined to investigate the extent to which lone parent families live in multi-family households, and the relationship between the lone parent and the head of the other main family in the household.